on the ball

on the ball: attentive, competent, alert

• Jim was the only one who caught that serious error in the accounting statements. He's really on the ball.
• Ella was certainly on the ball when she remembered to reconfirm our flight arrangements. All the rest of us would have forgotten.

to kick (something) around

to kick (something) around: to discuss informally (over a period of time) (S) (also: to toss around)

• At first my friends were reluctant to consider my suggestion, but they finally were willing to kick it around for a while.
• Brian thought that we should kick around the idea of establishing a special fund for supporting needy members of the club.

to drag one's heels/feet

to drag one's heels/feet: to act slowly or reluctantly

• My landlord is dragging his heels about fixing the furnace. If he doesn't fix it soon, I'm going to refuse to pay rent.
• Milla seemed willing to organize the volunteer activity, but now she is dragging her feet.

under control

under control: well managed

• The police officer radioed to the station that she had the emergency situation under control and didn't need any assistance.
• Thank you for offering to help with dinner, but I think I have it under control.

to lose one's touch

to lose one's touch: to fail at what one used to do well

• Milton used to be the best salesman at the car dealership, but recently he seems to have lost his touch.
• I used to play chess very well, but today you beat me easily. I must be losing my touch.

to go off the deep end

to go off the deep end: to get very angry and do something hastily

• Just because you had a serious argument with your supervisor, you didn't have to go off the deep end and resign, did you?
• When Dan's wife demanded a divorce, he went off the deep end again. This time he was shouting so that the whole neighborhood could hear.

to goof up

to goof up: to perform badly, to make a mistake (also: to mess up, to slip up)

• I really goofed up on the exam today; did you mess up, too?
• Karen slipped up when she forgot to deposit money into her checking account.

to screw up

to screw up: to confuse, to scramble (S); to cause problems in or with (S)

• Chris had trouble finding Jane's apartment because the addresses of the buildings screwed him up.
• Instead of fixing the television set, the technician screwed it up even more.

more or less

more or less: approximately, almost; somewhat, to a certain degree

• Although your bedroom feels smaller, it's more or less the same size as mine.
• Ted more or less agreed with our decision to put off the meeting until more members could show up. At least he didn't object strongly.

to play up to

to play up to : to behave so as to gain favor with someone (also: to kiss up to)

• The other students in the class resent Jim because he plays up to the teacher in order to get better grades.
• When my children asked me to go shopping for a new video game, I knew why they had been kissing up to me all morning.